Online commerce is driving demand for web-oriented services and infrastructure. New opportunities are emerging as vendors court an increasingly global marketplace through digital delivery of products, goods, and services. As an investor in these industries, SGE enables businesses to achieve more with less as they compete in the fast-paced market environment.
Timely access to comprehensive data and information is critical in nearly all enterprise environments. SGE focuses on companies that source, process, and purvey information in a cost-effective manner. SIG relies on the integrity and accessibility of multiple information sources, and SGE’s portfolio companies benefit from this unique insight into new delivery models and analytics.
Investment themes
- Increasing exposure: New forms of advertising, search engine optimization, and data-driven marketing services are key drivers of e-commerce, and solutions integrating them with core business infrastructures are becoming increasingly important.
- Industry cost pressures: Economic dislocation of certain industries is serving as a catalyst for new information services leadership, particularly in financial services.
- Market fragmentation: Incumbent pricing power is diminishing as smaller competitive entrants develop more cost-effective ways to source and deliver information.
- Shifting revenue models: Many services are moving away from sponsored or advertiser-supported offerings in favor of subscription or transaction-based services.
- High-frequency delivery: Automated data mining and electronic forms of distribution are enabling on-demand resources updated in real-time, displacing periodic information providers.
- Quantitative outputs: Corporate consumers are increasingly leaning towards raw, structured data with quantitative output and away from interpreted information for decisioning needs.
- Adaptation of new data sources: The electronification of transactions and communication is opening new opportunities for data collection and tracking. User-generated content is also becoming a more acceptable source of reliable information.